Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-06-22

streaming, Gu0 IuOD DuUWlluSsA'Vudb place
|. it was to sleep p And yet my text takes
that symbol Of slumber to describe his de-
lparture-so sweet was it, so contented was
lit. so peaceful was it. Stephen had lived a
yery laborious life. Hisschief work had
beento care for the poor. How many loaves
| Of btead he distributed, how many bare-feet
he ad sandaled; how many cots of sickness
andrdistress he blessed with ministries OF
kindness and love, lido not know; but from
the way he lived, and the way he preached,
and the way he died, / know he was Ia
borious Christian. But that is all over now.
Heshas pressed the cup to the last fainting
lip. He has taken the last insult from his
enemies. The last stone to whose crushing
weight he is susceptible has been hurled
Stephen is dead. The disciples come. They
take him up. They wash away the blood
from the wounds. They straighten out the
bruised limbs. They brush back the tangled
hair from the brow, and when they pass
around to look upon the calm countenance
of him who had lived for the poor and died
for the truth. Stephen asleep! have seen
the sea driven with the hurricane until the
tangled foam caught in the rigging, and
wave rising above wave seemed as if about
to storm the heavens, and then l have seen
the tempest drop and the waves crouch, and
everything become smooth and FURNISHED
as though a camping place for the glcries
of heaven. So have seen a man, whose
life has been tossed and driven, coming
down at last to an infinite calm, in which
there was the hush of heavens lullaby
Stephen asloepl saw such an one. He
fought all his days against povery and
against abuse. They traduced his name.
They ratified at the deor-knob while he was
\ Ill, be- I,
yet the peace of God brooded over his pill
dawned, and the deepening twilight of
Not struggle. Hushl Stephen asleep!
1 have not the faculty to tell the weather.
| can never tell by the setting sun whether
there will be a drought or not. I cannot
tell by the blowing of the wind whether it
will be fair weather or foul on the morrow.
But l can prOphesy, and l will prophesy
what weather it will be when you, the
Christian, come to die. You may have it
very rough now. 1t may be this week one
annoyance, the next another annoyance. 1t
may be this year one bereavement, the next
another bereavement. Before this year has
passed you may have to beg for bread, or
ask for scuttle of coal or "a pair of shoes;
but spread your death couch amid the leaves
of the forest, or make it out of the straw of
a pauper's hut, the wolf in the jingle how
ling close by, or inexorable creditors jerk
ing the pillow from under your dying head
Christ will come in and darkness will go
out. And though there may be no hand to
close your eyes, and no breast on which to rest
your dying head, and no candle to lift night,
the odors of Gods hanging garden will re-
gale your soul, and at your bedside will halt
the chariots of the king. No more rents to
pay, no more agony because -four has gone
up, no more struggle with -'the world, the
flesh and the deviI:" but peace-long, deep,
everlasting peace. Stephen; asleep!
"Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep;
A calm and undisturbed repose,
Unbroken by the last of foes.
"Asieep in Jesus far from thee
Thy kindred and their graves may be;
But there is still blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep"
You have seen enough for one morning
No one can successfully examine more than
five pictures in day. Therefore we stop.
having seen this cluster of Divine Raphaes
Stephen gazing into heaven; Stephen
looking at Christ; Stephen stoned; Stephen
in his dying prayer; Stephen asleep.